won-der n. 1. rapt attention or astonishment at something awesomely mysterious or new to one's experience 2. a feeling of doubt or uncertainty
won-der v. 1. to be in a state of wonder: MARVEL 2. to feel curiosity or doubt

Monday, April 6, 2009

Yarn Nests

This weekend the boys and I made yarn nests as a new spring decoration for our home. It has been a while since we've done any projects and I was so glad we did these. I've photographed the step by step process below.

First, each boy cut the yarn into pieces that were about 4-6 inches long.

Then they dipped their yarn into white Elmer's glue and wrapped it around a balloon that I had inflated and placed into a bowl.

Here is what they looked like when we were done. I was skeptical about how they would hold up once the glue dried and we popped the balloons. I didn't know if we had used too much glue or not enough.

My husband was perplexed when he saw these drying on the counter. When I told him they were nests, he was even more confused!

They actually held together pretty well after we removed the balloons. As you can see from the photo, the white glue left some film on the inside of the nest as well as some fringy pieces along the rim. I cut some of the glue film off with scissors, but I don't know what we could have done differently to avoid seeing the glue residue when we were finished. If anyone out there has made these with better results, be sure to leave a comment with your tips! The boys still liked how they turned out. They are kind of fragile, but do hold malted milk egg candy........at least until little hands discover it and it disappears!

4 comments:

I have never made these but maybe if you used a glue that dries clear you wouldn't notice it as much. Plus, doesn't Elmer's glue come in different colors now? That might make it a bit colorful. You were probably just using what you had on hand though.

Either way, they look cute and I'm sure you guys had fun making them. There are so many different medias you could use to make more. Paper, feathers, yarn/string, tissue paper, etc.

Once the balloon is popped and the nest will stand upright you can add a little glue to the inside of the "nest" and poke a few strands of yarn into it to finish it up and make it look fluffier, using a chopstick or plastic fork, just to make sure the yarn is anchored but not wet from the top.